Sam Lowes and Augusto Fernandez will start tomorrow’s 25-lap Moto2 race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from the front row of the grid after a tense Q2 session this afternoon.

• Lowes qualified second and Fernandez third after both quickly adapted to challenging track conditions in the quickfire 15-minute session after rain had disrupted the earlier Q1.
• Tomorrow’s race is scheduled to commence at 1220pm local time, and the front row will feature both Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders for the first time since Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli qualified first and second at Valencia in 2017.

/// AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ: 3^rd, 1’36.788

• This morning’s FP3 was the first dry session of the weekend for the Moto2 field and Fernandez showed he has podium potential when he finished second quickest with a best lap of 1’37.207.
• The 4.2km track was dry again for Q2 despite rain falling just minutes before the decisive session and the Spaniard was able to improve by over 0.5s to secure a front row start for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2019.

“I’m looking forward to a strong race at the front again”

“I’m very happy to be on the front row. The main goal for this weekend was to be on the front row to take advantage of our race pace, so it’s very satisfying to do it. It’s not clear about the race pace because we only had FP3 this morning in the dry to work on the setting, but I feel confident and I’m looking forward to a strong race at the front again.”

/// SAM LOWES: 2^nd, 1’36.615

• A ninth front row start of 2021 was the reward for Lowes after the Briton put up a tremendous fight for a record-breaking 17^th pole position of his Moto2 career.
• A 1’36.749 put Lowes on top of the timesheets and a further improvement down to a 1’36.615 looked to have secured him back-to-back poles before a stunning late attack from Raul Fernandez.

“I think we can fight for the podium”

“I’m really happy with another very strong performance in qualifying because being on the front row is always the target going into Q2. The team did a fantastic job because we only had one dry session going into Q2, but immediately I could feel we improved the bike this afternoon. I enjoyed Q2 and while I would have liked to have been closer to pole, Raul did a very good job again. The front row is nice, and it feels great that both of us are in the top three because that shows the fantastic job the team is doing. I’m looking forward to the race and I think we can fight for the podium.”